Covid vaccine trial

Vaccine trial heroes out in full force to beat COVID

By RYAN WYKES

The Liverpool vaccine trial has entered its second week of testing after hundreds respond to calls for volunteers in a matter of hours.

The yearlong trials, conducted by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, are being run in conjuncture with similar trials in seven other British cities, including Birmingham and London.

The aim of these trials is primarily to research the eligibility of a vaccination scheme using multiple vaccines, such as the AstraZeneca and Pfizer variants.

The current government rollout requires both the initial vaccine and its subsequent booster to be the same.

Dr Helen Hill, senior clinical research associate and chief of operations at the Covid vaccine trials, spoke to Liverpool Life about the ongoing research:

“The first question we are trying to ask is if you give a mixed schedule, say a Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca, would be as effective. This would allow the Government to make decisions based on the availability of vaccines, for example if the AstraZeneca vaccine by Oxford were to be more readily available, it might mean that people are offered a booster with that rather than a Pfizer vaccine which might be delayed.

“The second question from this study is whether we give the booster after one month or give it after three months. After one month, at present, we have some data from the previous trials as well as giving the booster after a slightly longer period of time, but those trials were not to intentionally answer this question.

“Doing the trial over 12 months is important as what we need to know is whether the vaccine schedule still protects, so we bring people back after those twelve months for blood samples to see, for example, if they still have an antibody response. As you know with the flu vaccine you’re vaccinated annually and there’s nothing to say at the moment how long these vaccines work for.”

In Liverpool, 100 volunteers were needed for the trials, with over 800 people applying in just two days.

“It’s a particularly popular study because everybody enlisted will get a primary vaccine and a booster.”

Liverpool Life spoke to Glyn Mon Hughes, a journalism lecturer at Liverpool John Moores accepted for the trials, about his experience as a part of the study.

“I just saw it on social media, and followed it all up. I am not sure that I was chosen over others, or how exactly they made the choices, but I do expect that they are looking for a wide range of ages as well as sexes and ethnicities.

“I had to talk about medication I take, had my heart and lungs monitored, my liver felt, reflexes tested, sight and hearing tested, and then blood and urine samples taken as well as assessing breathing rate and blood-oxygen levels. That was a pretty thorough MOT. It was then decided that I was fit enough to have an injection which was either a live vaccine or a placebo. I do not know which I had.

“I might have been given the Novavax vaccine. The company doing the trial is called Synexus and they

Photo credits: Shutterstock

“There has been a lot of goodwill from people wanting to contribute something to end the pandemic”

are based in Waterloo, in north Liverpool, though they are an international organisation and have clinics all over the world.”

Quizzed on why he volunteered for the trial, Glyn said: “I had never been part of a clinical trial and it was party curiosity to see what happened and partly the feeling that I was doing something useful for other people.”

‘I was lucky to have survived’

Surgeon tells of his battle against virus

By NATHAN SARTAIN

Almost ten years ago to the day, Marcus De Matas found himself interviewed for a book, titled ‘That Near Death Thing’, which sought to go in-depth about the dangers of the Isle of Man TT, allegedly one of the most dangerous races in the world.

At the time he was a young surgeon, one tasked with a “mammoth operation” to perform on racer Conor Cummins, who found himself needing ligaments rebuilt and metal rods placing in his back. All whilst risking blindness, nipping an artery and, of course, death.

Mr De Matas said to Mr. Cummins at the time that he had “only seen injuries like yours in a textbook”, something the orthopaedic specialist now elaborates on, and explains that he meant that the injuries were “subtle,” and could only have been “identified with the help of radiologists and a complete team approach.”

This was Conor Cummins’ “near death thing” and a period in his life which left the patient “emotionally dead”, Mr De Matas was quoted in the book as saying.

But the reason Mr De Matas, a now experienced orthopaedic spinal surgeon at Aintree University Hospital and various other locations in Liverpool, is being interviewed now isn’t just to reminisce on his previous experiences.

It is because, in the midst of a seemingly unwavering global pandemic, the 49-year-old has had his own “near death thing.”

“My experience involved, in a matter of hours, (going) from being asymptomatic to having a significant pulmonary problem,” he says from his hospital bed, detailing his experience with COVID. “What transpired for me was a rapid deterioration in my personal position which required me to have specialist medication to alter the disease to prevent me falling into a life-threatening situation.”

He went on to say that the process took several days for him to get to that level of sickness and that, after a week of treatment, he ended up on an ITU ward.

“Fortunately, the treatment that the hospital gave me worked well and it reversed the life-threatening process to the extent that I’m now recovering and rehabilitating,” he says, but it’s clear even from a short conversation that he has been through the wringer. At times he’ll pause, sometimes for a few seconds, completely short of breath. At others he’ll cough with a scratching rasp.

It’s not surprising though, given that the surgeon explains how his mortality was brought into question when he saw his results: rapidly decreasing oxygen levels and an increased need for fluids. “It was quite clear to me that there was a potential need for ventilation if I worsened from that position,” he outlines.

“Let us say that I spoke to my brother, and various other people, and my affairs were all in order if something was to happen to me and I became unconscious. Although I didn’t anticipate it happening, I was clearly in the picture that this could be a terminal event.”

If all goes well, Mr De Matas is due to be able to leave hospital in the next week or so, but his recovery is anything but clear-cut. After being hit hard by his illness, he finds himself struggling to walk even 50 yards, just three weeks after he says he could walk around 15 or 20 miles in a day.

Physiotherapists have said it will take a minimum of six to 12 weeks to return to any basic form of fitness, a timescale in which the surgeon hopes that he can return to performing a simple operation, aided by supporting staff.

Yet, in spite of the struggles, and the daunting figures that at one point painted a bleakly clear picture, the spinal expert is adopting an optimistic outlook going forward in how he will handle his future treatment. “I am very enthusiastic that I should get back to fitness and practice again and hit a golf ball, walk in the park and do things with my kids that I could have done three weeks ago.

“Unfortunately, to put it in perspective, I have been unlucky to have a severe form of the illness, but fortunate to have survived it.”